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University of Chicago professor to speak on race, wealth, and public policy

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 12, 2010 – University of Chicago professor Kerwin Charles will give a lecture, "Race and Wealth: Income, Expenditure, and Public Policy," on Thursday, March 18, 2-3 p.m., at Alumni Assembly Hall, Inn at Virginia Tech.

The lecture is sponsored by the Business Diversity Center in the Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business. The lecture is free and open to the public, no tickets needed. Parking is available in the hotel parking lot.

Charles is the Edwin and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research has examined such questions as how mandated minimum marriage ages affects young people's marriage and migration behavior; the effect of racial composition of neighborhoods on the social connections people make; the causes for the dramatic convergence in completed schooling between recent generations of American men and women; and differences in visible consumption across racial and ethnic groups.

His recent work has studied the degree to which prejudice can account for wages and employment differences by race and gender. In ongoing work, he is studying the connection between economic outcomes and various aspects of voting behavior.

Charles received a doctorate from Cornell University.

Questions about the event should be addressed to Anju Seth, management professor and department head.